SmartPak Monday Morning Feed: Product Review — Betty’s Best StripHair® Gentle Groomer™

Shedding season is in full swing. So any products to help move that along are a-okay by us. Here’s one such product that not only is great to help promote shedding, but also has benefits all year long. Check out Betty’s Best StripHair® Gentle Groomer™ Original For Horses.

It’s shedding season. Boy, is it shedding season. Between my sinuses screaming at me on a daily basis and the amount of hair pouring off my horses (which makes chewing gum in the barn a near impossibility), there is no doubt that spring is here.

I’ll be honest — I’ve tried a lot of grooming gimmicks to move along the shedding process. Everything from stones to rasps have been tried, and generally I can’t seem to beat a good old fashioned curry comb.

But here’s the problem with the old standby: I have a rather… particular chestnut mare who likes to let me know exactly which grooming products meet her approval and which ones fall short. The ones that meet her approval, she will tolerate and stand nicely in the cross ties.

Mac questioning the need to tolerate my grooming nonsense. Photo by DeAnn Long Sloan.

The grooming implements that don’t meet the queen’s standards incite small riots. She will dance, move her feet, shift her weight from side-to-side, toss her head. In short, do anything she can to make grooming a less-than-pleasant experience for us both. As a result, I have a lot of grooming supplies — especially for someone who likes to see herself as a minimalist groomer (to say the least).

A brief note to the reader: Mac’s impatience with certain grooming implements is not indicative of an underlying medical issue or pain. She is seen by a vet, farrier, dentist, chiropractor, massage therapist, animal communicator, shaman and exorcist regularly. She has been treated for ulcers. Her teeth are fine. She is only back sore when she is being brought back into work (you know, because working out makes us sore sometimes). She receives ample turn out. She is on a low NSC diet that primarily is forage-based. Her skin is cared for — she has no rain rot or ringworm. This horse leads a better life than most people on on the planet. Sometimes, she’s just freaking sensitive and likes to let me know. 

I don’t really know what made me decide to buy Betty’s Best StripHair® Gentle Groomer™ Original For Horses, other than a total whim — and possibly a sale — while I was shopping for other Totally-And-Completely-Necessary-Items at SmartPak. Whatever made me decide to buy it, I’m pretty glad I did.

Betty’s Best StripHair® Gentle Groomer™ Original For Horses. Photo courtesy of SmartPak.com.

So, this StripHair® Gentle Groomer™ has three main things going for it:

1. It works.
2. My horses don’t hair it.
3. It’s not expensive.

Really, what more could I ask for?

So, first and foremost, Betty’s Best StripHair® Gentle Groomer™ Original For Horses does its job. It removes that pesky shedding hair en masse, and does so in an efficient and easy to maneuver manner. Here’s a brief video of me using it on my rescue pony Leo (you can even hear my daughter commenting on his enjoyment if you have the sound on):

In addition to removing hair on the larger portion of a horse’s body, it’s also great for removing mud and dirt from the legs and face. It has textured surfaces on nearly every face, and they vary in size. Therefore, what and how you approach your horses’s shedding and dirt is totally adaptable to the situation. Plus, Betty’s Best StripHair® Gentle Groomer™ Original For Horses is flexible enough that it doesn’t irritate the parts of the body that aren’t covered with muscle and fat, which makes it a great tool — especially in mud season.

That leads me to the second selling point of this great product — my horses don’t hate it. For my rescue pony and my filly, that’s not saying much. They tolerate a lot. However, that certainly is not the case for my aforementioned less-than-stoic chestnut mare. She likes very five things:

1. Food
2. Treats
3. Sometimes me
4. NOT other horses at events
5. DEFINITELY NOT grooming tools

So any time I get a new grooming implement, I’m always left wondering whether or not it will be relegated to the pile of things I only use on other horses, or if it will be worked into my rotation of actually useful tools. I am pleased to report that Betty’s Best StripHair® Gentle Groomer™ Original For Horses has officially made its way into the rotation. It’s got Mac’s seal approval. Although she is not a particular fan of the short edge across her ribcage, she will tolerate the large textured face anywhere I want to use it (including her belly and near her udders). I can use it on her legs without complaint and she even lets me scratch her face with it. This is high praise coming from Mac.

When I purchased the StripHair® Gentle Groomer™, I have to admit that I did not fully read the description. I just decided to buy it. However, after grooming my horses with it, and noticing release after release, I was impressed with the horse’s reactions to the groomer — in the brief video above you can hear my youngest child comment on how she thinks the horse likes it. After going back to read the description (post-purchase, of course), I realized that the Gentle Groomer offers some therapeutic benefits such as increased blood circulation as well as muscle and tissue warming. While one certainly could argue that simply grooming does this, I did notice my horses’ positive reactions to this particular tool.

Finally, the StripHair® Gentle Groomer™ Original For Horses comes in at a reasonable price point. At $29.95 on SmartPak.com, it’s reasonable enough to justify the purchase — especially considering how it removes hair, dirt, mud, and additional pampering for my horses.

Go SmartPak and go riding!